The Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look toward the north and the rising sun. Aquitania extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star.

How to interpret rising setting/rising sun and North star, they don't make sense as East/West and North ?

I'm not sure what doesn't make sense. The region between the north star and the rising sun is "Northeast", the region between the north star and the setting sun is "Northwest". Can you explain your confusion?
– Mark C. Wallace♦Apr 11 '19 at 16:38

Okay , i was thinking only in four directions
– KutsitApr 11 '19 at 16:48

1 Answer
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"The Belgae rises from the extreme frontier of Gaul, extend to the lower part of the river Rhine; and look toward the north and the rising sun"

We can see that the territory of the Belgae extends from the frontier of Gaul furthest from Rome to the River Rhine in the South, and has a third border running northeast ("to the north and the rising sun").

It may seem a little confusing because the territory of the Belgae was roughly triangular, and so had only three borders.

Similarly, the territory of Aquitania, which

"extends from the river Garonne to the Pyrenaean mountains and to that part of the ocean which is near Spain: it looks between the setting of the sun, and the north star."

is bordered by the River Garonne, the Pyrenees and the ocean, with the fourth (northern) border running north-west ("between the setting of the sun, and the north star").

More generally, East is where the Sun rises, West is where it sets, and the North Star is in the north. Points between those on the compass would be North-east ("between the north star and the rising sun"), and North-west ("between the setting of the sun, and the north star").

It's also worth noting that translation from Latin to English (or, more generally, between any two languages) involves the translator making choices and interpretations.

Now, I quite like the 'standard' translation you quoted (it has a nice, poetic, ring), but alternate translations are certainly possible. However, whatever precise translation is preferred, the meaning of the text appears clear, as I described above.

Thanks, for aquitane I am still confused, suppose i am in aquitane, to my west is Bay of Biscay, to south are Pyrenees, to North and east are Garonne river, what remains for North-west ?
– KutsitApr 11 '19 at 20:32

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@ShlokVaibhav Caesar is describing the borders of Aquitaine. The northern border ran from north to west (i.e. in a northwesterly direction - see the map in the answer). Beyond that was Gaul (or 'Celtic Gaul' on the map), distinct from Gallia Narbonensis ('Prov Romana' on the map) which was beyond the Garonne to the east.
– sempaiscuba♦Apr 11 '19 at 20:42

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Great answer, but I think it should read "ad eaM partem Oceani" and not "ad eaRN partem Oceani". Oh, and "fiumine" should be "flumine" in "a Garumna flumine".
– Gregory HigleyApr 11 '19 at 22:03

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@GregoryHigley Thank you. I've corrected them. The first was due to autocorrect, but the second was entirely down to me (big fingers, small screen/keyboard!).
– sempaiscuba♦Apr 11 '19 at 22:13